How Many Rockets does it Take to Get an Honest Media Report?

Many LGF readers may remember the Tootsie Pop commercial some years ago in which an owl is asked how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, then takes two licks and bites to the center of the lollipop, concluding that it takes three licks to get to the middle.

I was struck by the same thought today while watching how the wire services were reporting on the escalating bombardment of southern Israel with missiles and mortars fired from the Gaza Strip. Throughout the day, as the number of reported missile strikes against Israeli civilian targets mounted, the lead on most articles has been that two or three “Gazans” had been killed in air strikes and that rockets were fired in retaliation.

Having long-since grown inured to the bass-ackwards way in which these things are reported, I must admit my surprise to have come across the following headline from, of all sources, the Associated Press:

Intrigued, I read further, and was even more surprised by an article that begins thus:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel on Wednesday in the heaviest bombardment on the area in months, drawing ominous Israeli threats of retaliation and dangers of escalation.

The violence came a day after a landmark visit to Gaza by the emir of Qatar. Israeli officials suggested the visit, the first by a head of state to the Hamas-ruled territory, emboldened the militant group.

The rocket fire began shortly after the emir left Gaza late Tuesday and continued through the night. Israeli officials said more than 80 projectiles were fired, and Hamas claimed responsibility for many of the attacks.

And there you have it folks. How many rockets fired at Israel does it take to get an honest media report?

The answer, as far as this observer can tell, is 80.

p.s. I am giving the AP a bit of a pass for describing Israeli threats to respond to the bombardment as “ominous”, while offering no judgment as to what a constant bombardment with 80+ missiles in one day might constitute. Rome, as they say, was not built in a day.